mc DJ - Illin-Noise: Sufjans Stevens Remix Album (2005)

Before there was Childish Gambino, there was mc DJ, and before mc DJ, there was Donald Glover, and before Donald Glover, there were his parents having nasty, dirty sex.

Early on in his career, Childish Gambino (obviously going by the name "mc DJ" here) mainly made remixes and instrumentals. Despite what the name of the album may lead you to (rightfully so) believe, he doesn't just sample Sufjan Stevens here, because I caught a Beastie Boys sample in "Prairie". That's pretty much the most noteworthy thing I can say about this entire thing.

Sure, Sufjan Stevens is great, but this is mainly just up-pitching his vocals and adding drums. Neat idea, and I generally like Sufjan Stevens in any form, but who is actually listening to this instead of the originals, or even any of Donald Glover/Childish Gambino's other work? I'm all for sampling, and mc DJ does find himself doing some pretty interesting stuff on his own here (see "Riffs") but when most of the music's quality comes from the original material, and not so much putting your own spin on it past drums, what can you really say about the product that hasn't been said before about the original product?

6/10
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Feel free to download this FREE album from Forever Childish!